[2025] UKUT 073 (AAC)

We believe this is the first decision of the Upper Tribunal to analyse the nature of its jurisdiction in relation to a Traffic Commissioner’s refusal, under section 16(4) of the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operator’s) Act 1995, to accept an operator’s request to terminate (or surrender) its licence.

There is no right of appeal to the Upper Tribunal against a Traffic Commissioner’s refusal to accept an operator’s request to surrender its licence. However, we incline to the view that it is open to an Appellant to argue that a Commissioner’s regulatory decisions were invalid because a prior request to surrender an operator’s licence was unlawfully refused. We do not express ourselves with any more certainty than that because we did not have the benefit of any legal submissions on the point. In this case, the Commissioner’s refusal to accept a surrender request was clearly lawful since the evidence demonstrated that, at the date of the request, the Commissioner was considering giving a direction under section 26 of the 1995 Act, which is the only statutory ground on which a request in respect of a restricted licence may be refused. Our view is that the Commissioner’s refusal to accept this operator’s surrender request was free of any error of law.

Our decision also illustrates practical challenges that may arise in determining whether a Traffic Commissioner has power to refuse a request to surrender a restricted operator’s licence. These difficulties are less likely to arise for standard licences because, here, it will often be very clear whether, at the date of the surrender request, regulatory action is being considered due to the formal notification requirements that attend the giving of directions, including revocation directions, in respect of standard licence under section 27(1) of the 1995 Act.

In these reasons: